One chapter in my book is entitled “Live-in Relationships: the Counterfeit to a Covenant.” Unfortunately, living together outside of a marriage covenant is becoming more common and accepted here in the Philippines. I wrote several reasons to avoid this modern practice. One of my arguments is that cohabitation does not increase one’s chances for having a successful marriage–statistically, it has the opposite affect. A new book (Living Together: Myths, Risks & Answers, by Mike and Harriet McManus) further supports this claim. Read about what’s happening in the Western context:
Between 50 and 60 percent of all marriages begin with the two partners cohabitating, and many of those couples no doubt believe they are making a wise move up front. But living together before marriage actually increases the chances of divorce in a first marriage — 67 percent of cohabitating couples eventually divorce, compared to 45 percent for all first marriages.
That and other myth-busting facts form the core of a new book by Mike and Harriet McManus, “Living Together: Myths, Risks & Answers” (Howard Books), with a foreword by Chuck Colson. Co-founders of the organization Marriage Savers, the couple have invested much of their lives trying to help strengthen marriages and push down the divorce rate.
The biblical warnings against cohabitation, the book says, are affirmed by statistics showing it’s a bad idea.
-The above quote is from the Baptist Press website. You can read the entire article here.
